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First MRI movies capture fetal brain connecting up

February 25, 2013

The brains of unborn babies have now been imaged in action, showing how connections form.

This fMRI movie, produced by Moriah Thomason from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, shows a fly-through of several fetuses in their third trimester. By comparing the scans at slightly different stages of development, Thomason was able to pinpoint when different parts of the brain wire up.

By identifying how brain connectivity normally develops, the scans could help diagnose and treat conditions like schizophrenia and autism before birth.

Comments (8)

Makes you wonder if all the increases in children diagnosed with ADD or other disorders are related to the mother having something as simple as more caffeine in their diets…or just that computers or video stimulation later in development turn on genes to activate a different attention span,etc.? Just heard in another Kurzweil article (see it here: http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-tension-changes-the-structure-of-dna ) that…They used a simple trick to stabilize the DNA, by just adding salt to the solution. Surprisingly, the strands in this stabilized DNA did not lose their connections, but rather formed an elongated double-stranded structure.

…so if adding salt can do that much to DNA…what does all the other chemical changes/differences do during development inside the womb? Makes you wonder if the Ph balance is just a few percentage points different…how that affects things. I hope they can layer technologies to really study and figure out these development details in the future.

I actually believe in what Dr. Michio Kaku said:
“All children are born geniuses. It is the society that crushes them”
And it takes the same society to restore their rightful brilliance.
Some people may criticize this belief as being namby-pamby, but I believe the namby-pamby ones are right. We owe our children.

If Michio Kaku said that, then he’s a fool. What better recipe is there for resentment towards society for not getting what one wants, for blaming all of ones problems on others, including one’s parents? I think it’s far better for one’s mental health to accept that we’re all born with particular talents (and limitations) and to focus on what we do best, rather than blaming our limitations on society.

Cybernettr: A reminder that personal attacks are not appropriate on KurzweilAI (Dr. Kaku is a participant on KurzweilAI) and posts with personal attacks are subject to deletion. I think he makes a valid point. The U.S. educational system (to cite the one I’m familiar with) is designed to crush creativity and impose limitations, and I think it’s bad for mental health to accept that abuse.

I wouldn’t say that the educational system is designed to crush creativity and impose limitations. There is no doubt that my own experiences made me turn away from the educational system. My kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 6th grade teachers were wonderful. Most of the others were stuck in the system and frustrated with their lives. Pink Floyds The Wall talked about similiar problems with the English system. Some people excel in that environment.

Both my parents have taught on the collegiate level they were frustrated with what was happening with me. I have thought long and hard on these issues. They are from currents in society. We reflect what is happening around us. It has more to do with the mirror neurons. If a child was raised by apes as in Tarzan they would reflect that environment. If Micheal Angelo were born in ancient Egypt his art would reflect those time periods. Einstein reflected the achievements of his day. It’s that, we stand on the shoulders of our peers concept. Society is like a group mind. It communicates throughout the language of speech, not neurochemicals and synapses.

No. This topic is off topic for this article. The structure of this site limits tangents. I would love to explore this further with you. Perhaps on another site. There are some with thousands of responses with endless tangents. I will post in that fertile soil.

I love Micio Kaku. He’s a great orator. I was just watching a lecture he gave on what it will be like in the decade of 2030. Very Kurzweilian but he feels brain research will take many decades. His estimates for human level intelligence is in the 2050,s. He tells great jokes too.